Always ethereal, always eclectic, I write as the mood strikes, when there intrigue reveals itself. Usually that means something controversial or adventure of some sort.

I've tried really hard to be unprovocative, but have as yet been unsuccessful.

Sunday, 7 May 2006

Friendship Fest

There isn't much to say about the trip down south. There were a number of groups playing, but I saw only two gigs, and not much more that night, as I was battling major allergies, and took too much Benadryl, and got tired, and had to go back to my hotel early. An interesting hotel, in that they didn't allow men on the women's floor, or vice-versa, though they all have central courtyards, so you can look down on the women's floor. Men are on the women's floor- but only if they're married. This is the floor with the only showers- you were not allowed on that floor, except to take showers. This makes sense. Somehow, I'm sure. Soili, a Finnish friend of mine working up North in Tanja, did a bang-up job spending all morning trying to get hotel rooms for me and my friends coming in. It was booked up heavy because this is tourist season, and evidently there is also a strange new rule in Marraksh that Moroccans and expats can't room together, and we had some Moroccans with us, and that made it quite difficult to find a room. But finally the Hotel Dakhla put us up- we just couldn't all hang out together in the hotel.

I got to see Ashley Cleveland, 2 time Grammy winner, pictured above, and also a group called KJ-52, Dove Award winners, pictured below. And it was good to hook up with Soili (in the middle) and her friends as well. Miraculously, on the trip to Showen last weekend, she had texted me to say she was in Showen right then, and if I'm ever up in Tanja, to drop on by- not realizing my plans for that weekend. I called her and told her I was actually right that moment 40 minutes from Showen, and could see her. We got a chance to catch up, and I learned about this (heavily unpublicized) Friendship Fest Concert the following weekend.